Designing Beyond First Use

Abstract

The winter sports industry depends on stable climatic conditions, yet its equipment, infrastructure, and travel systems contribute significantly to environmental degradation. Ski boots exemplify this contradiction: although engineered for durability, they typically pass through only a single ownership cycle, destroying substantial embodied value. This is reinforced by combining components with different lifespans into a single product, where the faster-degrading parts determine when the boot is replaced.

This thesis explores how a circular business model can enable economically viable value retention for ski boots, and which product adaptations are required to support such a system. The research combines literature review, product disassembly, life cycle assessment, expert interviews, and quantitative user surveys to identify the key barriers to circularity.

The findings reveal that 84% of a ski boot’s environmental impact is generated during production, while its most carbon-intensive component, the shell (hard outer boot), remains structurally functional well beyond its typical use phase. Yet boots are frequently replaced prematurely due to liner (soft inner boot) degradation, comfort loss, and perceived obsolescence. Together, these dynamics reveal five systemic tensions: mismatched component lifespans, aesthetic value loss, lack of lifecycle control, limited return infrastructure, and ownership structures that discourage reuse. Rather than addressing these in isolation, they form the foundation for an integrated product–service system.

The thesis proposes a circular model in which the durable shell is retained and redistributed across multiple use cycles, while the liner remains a personal component. Once a shell no longer meets the demands of its initial use, it does not lose its value; instead, it is reassigned to a context where its performance still meets user needs. Value is captured through controlled refurbishment, performance-based grading, and structured return mechanisms. Deliberate product adaptations are introduced to make the system viable, including reversible connections that enable the replacement of high-wear components and design interventions addressing aesthetic degradation.

The thesis shows that value retention is not limited by technical feasibility, but by system design, ownership structures, and user perception. Circular value retention emerges not from isolated product improvements, but from the integration of product, business model, and system design. Design, therefore, plays a key role in reshaping how value is created, maintained, and recaptured over time.